The present disclosure is related to a multi-purpose, low-profile vehicle and vehicle system.
Mining requires fastidious attention to safety, including clearing detritus and other materials from passageways and other locations. Clearing these materials, however, can be very labor intensive, and takes manpower away from mining activities. Also, mines can be very tight quarters with limited ventilation, thus preventing the use of conventional equipment for clearing and cleaning purposes.
In one specific example, mining operations often use conveyor systems for transporting mined product. By way of a more specific example, various types of conveyor belts are often used to transport coal within a mine. Over a period of time, detritus (e.g., coal slack) builds up underneath and around the conveyor system from spillage as well as from material carry-back on the return side (e.g., bottom) of the conveyor. Two to three feet (or more) of material may build up and compact under the main belts in a coal mine over one or more years of operation. This compacted material eventually needs to be excavated or cleaned-out in order to assure proper belt clearance, ensure miner safety, and for other purposes (e.g., to allow room for square sets in areas that they are required for ground control).
The coal slack and other material which builds up under and around conveyor systems is typically removed manually using shovels, air-powered jack hammers, and similar manually-operated implements. In some instances, each shift in a coal mine might have an entire crew (e.g., eight workers) devoted to cleaning beneath and around conveyor belts using various pneumatic and hand tools to manually excavate the material and load it back onto the belt. This can be a dangerous process, since the conveyor system will often be running as the material is manually cleaned from beneath a running conveyor. This manual process causes many lost time injuries, particularly back injuries, due to the labor intensive nature of the work and the fact that workers are required to work beneath a running conveyor belt.
While a variety of devices and techniques may exist for cleaning debris (such as material from beneath and around conveyor systems, e.g., in a coal mine), it is believed that no one prior to the inventors have made or used an invention as described herein.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.